


christmas one shots

by elhopperperalta



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:01:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28117365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elhopperperalta/pseuds/elhopperperalta
Summary: just a collection of a few short christmas related fics that i wanted to share. i'll try to write as many as possible, and if you have any suggestions or prompts for my writing then please let me know!!enjoy<3
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 26
Kudos: 59





	1. snowstorm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a snowstorm hits brooklyn, and jake needs to reunite his family.

The icy wind whistled and rustled loudly through the trees as Jake Peralta attempted to make his way home. Snow was coming down fast from everywhere around him and he had to stop a few times to clear the big piles of snow that kept gathering in the hood of his coat. His heavy footfalls were unable to be heard, as the constant roaring of the wind covered up the crunching of the bright white snow and ice under his feet.

A huge snowstorm had hit Brooklyn, one of the biggest they had ever had, and Jake knew that if he wanted to get to his Mom’s house in time to pick up his son before dinner then he was going to have to hurry before it got even worse.

Rushing down the steps of the subway station, he felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket. He took it out and saw his wife’s contact name displayed on the screen. _Dammit._ She was still at work, and, if the storm got any worse, was probably going to be stuck there for the night.

He sighed. Him and Mac hadn’t seen much of her for the past week as she had been working overtime almost every day, and he really didn’t want to spend the night in his bed alone again. Sighing, he pressed the answer button on his phone and smiled as he heard Amy’s voice on the other end of the line.

‘Hey babe, you okay?’ she spoke up immediately. She sounded exhausted, and he felt so bad that she still had four more hours left of her shift.

‘Yeah, I’m okay, just getting on the subway to Mom’s now,’ he replied, ‘but are you okay? Do you need me to bring you anything before I go? Do you need a hug?’

‘Well yes, I always need a hug from you Jake,’ she giggled, and he smiled even wider at the sound of her laughter, ‘but that can wait. Just go pick up Mac, and I’ll meet you at home in a few hours okay?’

‘Okay,’ he sighed, ‘I love you so much.’

‘I love you so much too,’ she whispered back, ‘stay safe, honey.’

‘Will do. I love you, see you later.’

The call ended just as the train was pulling in, and he hopped on quickly. There was barely any standing room, but he didn’t have time to wait for the next train to come so he just put up with it. It was only ten or so minutes anyway.

Well, or so he _thought._

About five minutes after the train had pulled away from the station, it suddenly jerked to a stop, leaving everyone on board very confused. As he had been holding onto the rail on the ceiling of the carriage and not sitting down, Jake slipped forwards when the train stopped abruptly, and had to apologise to the man stood in front of him for almost knocking him over too.

It was a few minutes before the driver spoke to every panicked passenger on the train, informing them that it had broken down and would take at least an hour to fix. All the passengers around Jake looked relieved that it wasn’t anything life threatening but annoyed too. It was holiday season after all, and with Christmas just around the corner it was no wonder everyone would rather be at home with their families than stuck for hours on a broken-down train surrounded by random strangers.

Jake sighed. He was going to have to text his Mom to see if she could have Mac for a couple more hours, since Amy wasn’t going to be home until at least 9pm. He felt bad, but what could he do really.

_Hey Mom. Sorry, but I was just wondering if you could maybe have Mac for a couple more hours? I hate to ask, but Amy’s working late and the train I’m on has broken down and it seems like I’m going to be stuck here for a while._

Karen replied mere minutes later, relieving Jake of at least one stress.

**Oh no of course, that’s fine honey. Everything’s good here, I’ve just managed to get him to sleep so he’ll be okay here for a while. You okay?**

_Oh no yeah I’m okay. I just miss him is all._

**I know. But he’ll be here waiting for when you come back!**

He chuckled at his Mom’s attempts to comfort him. He truly didn’t deserve her.

Being a full-time working parent was very difficult sometimes. He missed his son every moment that he was away from him. The first thing he had thought of when he found out he was going to be a few hours late to pick up Mac was how that was more hours _away_ from him than it was _with_ him. He knew it wasn’t his fault but he still felt extremely guilty.

He just really needed a hug from his wife. He sighed again before exiting out of his Mom’s contact and into Amy’s. He just needed to know that she was okay.

_Hey babe, you doing okay?_

He got a response not long after.

**Yup, I’m okay don’t you worry! What about you? How’s Mac? Have you made it to your Mom’s yet?**

_Erm well I would’ve, but my train broke down about half an hour ago so he’s staying there for a couple of hours whilst I’m stuck here. I feel awful but there’s nothing I can really do about it._

**Oh no Jake!! Are you sure you’re okay?**

_I’m okay! I hopefully won’t be stuck here for much longer. I feel bad being late to pick up our son though:(_

**Don’t worry babe, I’m sure he’s perfectly fine. He loves it at your Mom’s!**

**I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you later okay? I love you.**

_I love you._

Finally, after an hour and a half of being stuck in a train tunnel, Jake was walking as quick as he could to pick up Mac. He couldn’t bare to spend any more time away from his son’s perfect face.

Reaching Karen’s door, he knocked twice and waited for her to open the door. It was absolutely freezing, and even whilst wearing his thickest jacket he was still shivering violently. He was glad when the door opened, and his Mom greeted him enthusiastically with a big smile and a warm hug.

‘Hey love,’ she said as she squeezed him tight, ‘Mac’s just through here.’

And there was his son, wrapped up warm in what looked like all the blankets his Mom currently had in her house (a lot). His cheeks were rosy pink from the heat of the fireplace and Jake felt suddenly overwhelmed with love for his little boy.

He kneeled down gently next to him and ran a finger lightly across his small hand. Mac’s eyes slowly blinked open and they lit up the moment he realised who was in front of him.

‘Daddy?’ he mumbled, his voice rough with sleep.

‘Hey bud,’ Jake whispered back, running his hand through the chestnut curls on his son’s head, ‘you ready to go home and see Mommy?’

Mac nodded and reached out his arms sleepily for his Dad to pick him up.

‘Come on then,’ said Jake, lifting his sleepy son into his arms and kissing him on the head, ‘let’s go home.’

Jake put Mac’s coat on and headed out the door.

‘Thanks for looking after him Mom.’ said Jake as him and Mac stepped outside into the still heavily falling snow.

‘Oh, anytime honey,’ replied Karen, ‘just call me if you need me okay?’

‘Will do.’

Mac fell asleep in Jake’s arms as soon as they reached the subway station. Jake didn’t think there was anything more perfect than his son falling asleep on him.

Luckily the train didn’t take too long to get home, and soon enough they were both going up in the lift of their apartment block, exhausted but content.

Unlocking the door of their home, Jake let out a relieved sigh as he spotted his wife in the kitchen. She turned around when she heard them both come in and ran over immediately to pull him and Mac into a hug.

‘Hello my two favourite boys,’ she whispered into his chest before leaning over to kiss Mac’s forehead, ‘I missed you so much.’

‘We missed you too.’ whispered Jake, placing a fast asleep Mac into Amy’s arms.

Amy buried her face in her son’s hair. Coming back home to cuddles with her son truly was the best thing. She was exhausted, but she was happy.

‘He definitely needs to go to bed.’ Jake chuckled, wrapping an arm around his wife’s waist and kissing her temple.

‘Oh yeah definitely.’ she smiled up at him, nuzzling her face in his shoulder.

‘Come on then.’ Murmured Jake, taking his wife’s hand.

Oh, how he loved his family.


	2. christmas tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jake and amy finally get a christmas tree.

‘Hey, Ames?’ called Jake from the living room.

‘Yeah babe?’ Amy replied as she walked from where she was standing making coffee in the living room to where her husband was situated in the living room putting up Christmas decorations. He was currently wrapping tinsel round the curtain rail, a very concentrated look on his face for a task that really wasn’t that complicated.

He turned around as she walked into the room though, smiling at the sight of her in her pyjamas and glasses with what had, in her opinion, frames that were _way_ too thick.

‘Gone blind suddenly babe?’ he chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist.

‘No,’ she replied, giggling softly at him, ‘I’ve just run out of contact lenses. Anyway, what were you gonna ask me?’

‘Oh, yeah,’ Jake continued, ‘you do know that we don’t have a Christmas tree yet, right?’

‘Yes, why?’

‘Well it is the fifteenth of December,’ he raised his eyebrows, ‘we’ve left it a bit late haven’t we?’

‘Well, yeah.’ she sighed, resting her head in the crook of his neck.

‘What’s up Ames?’ said Jake. He looked at his wife concernedly, holding her tighter against him.

‘I just don’t… I haven’t… I haven’t really felt up to it at all for the past couple of weeks which I’ve been kinda sad about since its one of my favourite things to do at Christmas,’ she began, ‘and now its ten days till Christmas and I thought I could just put up the fake one we had last year but it’s not in the spare room where I left it and I-’

‘Hey, hey, shhhh,’ whispered Jake, rubbing his hand gently up and down her back, ‘it’s okay, shhhh.’

She was shaking and he felt so awful. He knew why she had been feeling really down for the past couple of weeks. They’d been trying to have a baby for months now, and it still hadn’t happened. They both wanted a child so badly and the fact that it was this hard for them to conceive had left them both exhausted and hopeless. Neither of them had really slept for weeks, so getting a tree hadn’t really been their top priority.

‘It’s okay Ames, we don’t even have to have a tree this year,’ he continued to try and calm her down, leading her over to sit down on the sofa. ‘I could just decorate the rest of the house so spectacularly that you won’t even notice its absence.’

She laughed softly and reached over to wrap her arms around his neck. ‘I guess so,’ she said as he kissed the top of her head, ‘but it would be good to have one.’

He nodded. ‘Well if you’re feeling up to it then we could just go today. It’s quite late so it probably won’t be too busy. We can just grab one and leave. It’ll be okay, I promise.’

‘Okay,’ whispered Amy, nodding her head, ‘let’s do that.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yes. It’ll get me out of the house at least.’

‘Okay.’ He leaned forward to kiss her, and she tangled her hands in the curls at the back of his neck.

He always knew what to do, and how to make her the happiest, and she was forever grateful for that and all the other wonderful things he did to make her feel like the luckiest person on earth.

Hand in hand, they walked the length of the cold Christmas tree farm, Amy bundled up in every warm item she could find in their wardrobe. Hat, scarf, gloves, the lot. Jake chuckled at his always freezing wife and squeezed her hand tighter.

‘You okay?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, I’m okay.’ She replied, shivering even in her warmest winter coat.

‘Do you really mind which tree we get, or shall we just grab one and go?’

‘Just grab one,’ she said, shoving the hand that wasn’t clutching Jake’s into her pocket, ‘I’m freezing.’

‘Okay.’

Even in their hurry to leave, they did manage to pick out quite a nice tree. Jake heaved it into the back seat of their sedan before getting in the driver’s seat and turning the heat up high.

‘Let’s go home then, yeah?’

‘Yes please.’ Replied Amy, reaching over to grab his hand.

‘You sure you’re okay honey?’ asked Jake, kissing her knuckles gently.

‘I’m okay Jake, I promise,’ she said, leaning over to kiss his cheek, ‘I’m just tired.’

‘Come on then, we’ll go home and I’ll make you hot chocolate.’

Amy smiled as he pulled out of the car park. Damn, she really got lucky in life.

When they got home they placed the tree in a corner of their living room. It was tall, but not so tall that it hit the ceiling. After they had added multicoloured lights and tinsel and baubles and finally a star on top, it looked completely perfect. Maybe it was a complete mess of colours and didn’t match Amy’s living room at all, but she was so happy with it that for once she didn’t really care.

‘Hey, are you crying?’ Jake asked, laughing into her hair as he pulled her close to him.

‘No, course not,’ Amy mumbled into his chest, ‘why on earth would you think that?’

At least for once they were tears of happiness. She loved Jake so much and she loved Christmas and the tears just kept falling.

‘Hmm sure babe,’ said Jake, pulling away to gently wipe the tears off her cheeks, ‘sure.’

She laughed and buried her face in his shoulder. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you.’


	3. lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's christmas eve, and amy can't sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not actually sure where this prompt came from but i thought it was cute, so i hope you enjoy.

It was the night of December 24th, and Amy Santiago couldn’t sleep.

She didn’t know whether it was the cold keeping her awake, or the constant noise of the roaring wind outside, or even (and most likely) the gruesome murder she had been working for weeks that she just couldn’t figure out how to solve, no matter how hard she tried. Add all of these things together, it probably wasn’t the perfect recipe for a good night’s sleep. Her brain was too distracted to focus on trying to fall asleep.

She lay there for at least another half an hour, tossing and turning and trying to clear her head, but it was no use. She was not falling asleep tonight.

Sighing, she got up out of bed as quietly as possible so as to not wake her husband and crept quickly out of their bedroom to the kitchen.

A couple of hours later, Jake Peralta awoke from his slumber. It was 12am, and the absence of his wife beside him was probably the reason he had woken up. He sat up, squinting into the darkness and trying to locate his alarm clock on his bedside table. Yup, 12:03am. Christmas day 2019.

He wondered where she was. He hoped she hadn’t gone far. He had been quite worried about his wife this past week, she was taking on so many extra shifts and overtime that he was surprised she hadn’t snapped yet. He knew she was tired, every day she would come home from work and just collapse next to him on the sofa, too exhausted to even eat. And sometimes she wouldn’t sleep, even though she needed it desperately. She had voiced her fears about not being able to solve her murder case that she was working on aloud to him, and he knew that it often kept her up on the nights that she needed to rest the most. And what with it being the holiday season he wanted her to enjoy her favourite time of year as much as possible but it was proving difficult when work was pretty much taking over her life at the moment.

Rubbing his eyes, Jake got up out of bed and padded to the kitchen to find Amy. She was stood by the window, a cup of coffee in her hand. She was gazing at something out the window that he couldn’t see, and she seemed far away.

‘Babe?’ he whispered, walking a few steps closer to her.

She jumped a little and turned around to face him, putting her coffee down on the side. ‘Hey,’ she whispered, walking into his open arms as he held them out to her.

She nuzzled into his chest and sighed contentedly.

‘You okay?’

‘I’m okay,’ replied Amy, not lifting her head up from where it was tucked into his shoulder, ‘I just couldn’t sleep, that’s all.’

He nodded and kissed her head, pulling away to pick up her empty mug. ‘You want another?’

‘Yes please.’

Jake reached over to turn the kettle on before wrapping an arm around Amy’s waist, resting his head on hers as she leaned against him.

‘Do you want to go for a drive?’ Jake asked suddenly, a good idea quickly forming in his head.

‘Huh?’ Amy murmured, quite confused about what her husband was planning this early in the morning.

‘A drive,’ he repeated, smiling at her whilst he poured hot water into both of their coffee cups, ‘you know, see the Christmas lights and stuff. We’re both awake now, so we might as well make the most of how pretty Brooklyn is at this hour, especially when people have spent all their wages on decorating their houses as over the top as possible.’

Amy chuckled softly and took the mug he offered to her. ‘Okay then, let’s do it. Sounds fun.’

‘Awesome,’ he whispered and leaned over to kiss her nose, laughing at how cold it felt under his lips, ‘are you cold, Santiago?’

‘Mhm,’ she nodded, grabbing his hoodie he had left on one of the kitchen chairs and pulling it over her head, ‘very.’

‘Better wrap up warm then dear.’ He said with a smirk as he left to grab some extra layers from their wardrobe. Amy smiled as she placed her mug in the sink, still cold but excited about their impromptu midnight drive together.

When she was finally settled into the passenger seat of their car, bundled up in the warmest clothes she could find, Amy relaxed a little. She felt her worries somehow slowly fade away as Jake pulled out of where their car was parked and continued onto the road in front. He reached for her hand over the console and laced her fingers through his, lifting it up to softly kiss her knuckles. The drive was proving to be truly perfect, and it was just about to get even _more_ perfect.

Jake turned down a road to the left, and Amy gasped as she took in all the beautiful bright lights that all the houses along the road were adorned with. There were colours, _so many_ colours. Some houses even had light up reindeer and santas and polar bears outside their houses, some on roofs and some in front gardens and some in windows. Amy was totally in awe.

‘Jake…’ she whispered, leaning up against the window to get a better view of all this wonderfulness.

‘Pretty cool huh?’ he grinned.

‘ _So_ cool.’

She had obviously seen Christmas lights before, lots of them, but it was the fact that Jake knew exactly what would make her smile at exactly the right moments that almost brought her to tears. She had been feeling so tired and just all around shitty and he had come up with a plan so effortlessly that had lifted her mood so quickly and she was just so grateful. She had never thought that Christmas lights would make her feel so sentimental but she was glad they did.

‘You happy?’

She turned to him as he pulled up on the side of the road, and lifted a hand to cup his cheek.

‘So happy.’

He leaned in to kiss her and she returned it gladly, sighing contentedly as he pulled her as close to her as he could.

‘Merry Christmas, Ames.’ Whispered Jake as he pulled away to stroke a gentle finger across her rosy cheek.

‘Merry Christmas Jake.’


	4. snowman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> amy and mac build a snowman.

‘Come on Mom, come on!’ exclaimed Mac as he happily ran down the snow-covered path, his feet making small footprints in the falling snow. He had his fluffy hood pulled up so that he couldn’t really see properly out of it, and Amy giggled at her son’s awe of the fluffy white stuff that was falling out of the sky.

‘I’m coming bud, I’m coming.’ She ran and struggled to keep up with him, he was running too fast. He was just really excited to build a snowman, she gathered as she finally caught up to him, grabbed him and pulled him onto her hip. He was giggling loudly and she laughed along with him, her favourite activity in the world was making her son laugh (and her husband, of course.)

‘You ready to build a snowman, bud?’ she asked as she gently brushed off the snow in her son’s hair and kissed his forehead, walking further towards the park.

‘Yes, yes, yes, yes!’ said Mac excitedly, bouncing up and down in his Mom’s arms.

The snow made him more excitable than usual, and fair enough because they rarely ever got it. But when they did, it came down hard and Amy had to make sure they all didn’t end up catching hypothermia when they went out to play in it. Worth it though.

When they reached the park, Mac squirmed in Amy’s arms to get down and she put him on the floor, watching him run towards a quiet deserted corner with completely untouched snow. Perfect to make a snowman and a snowdog and have snowball fights with (much to Amy’s dismay).

‘Come _on_ , Mommy,’ Mac squealed as he started rolling some snow into a ball to make the snowman, ‘come on, come on, come on!’

‘Hey, hey, I’m coming okay?’ she chuckled as she finally reached him and helped him out with making the snowman’s bottom.

Amy revelled in her 3-year-old son’s joy as their project began to come together, and they had the bottom and the middle of the snowman already completed by 2pm.

‘Just the head left now then, sweetheart.’ Said Amy, beginning to roll snow for the final part of the snowman. Luckily she had remembered to bring a carrot or there would’ve definitely been some tantrums from her baby boy about the fact that their snowman was ‘ _noseless, Mommy!’._

Halfway through making the head Mac piped up, ‘Mommy, where’s Daddy?’

Amy sighed. ‘Daddy’s at work, honey. You know that.’

She wished he wasn’t. Her husband _adored_ snowdays, perhaps even as much as Mac. She knew he was pissed that he was missing the chance to spend today with his family and he was planning to have today off anyway, until Holt called him in asking if he could help out Charles with a difficult string of B&E’s. He couldn’t really say no, so he had had to tell his very disappointed son this morning that he wouldn’t be able to have a snow day with him. There had been a lot of tears, from both father and son, and Amy’s heart broke a little. Jake hated leaving Mac to go to work, especially when it could’ve been his day off. But work was urgent sometimes, and Amy knew he couldn’t help that.

‘But…why?’

‘Because Daddy has to work sweetie,’ whispered Amy as she lifted Mac off the ground to give him a cuddle, ‘his job is important.’

Mac looked on the verge of tears as he tucked his head into the crook of Amy’s shoulder, hiding his face away from her.

‘Hey, hey,’ she murmured, trying to reassure her son, ‘hey, shhh, it’s okay bud. Daddy’ll be home soon.’

‘But I want Daddy now!’ he cried, tears falling rapidly down his face as he clutched tightly onto her coat.

Amy reached her gloved hands up to wipe away the tears. ‘Mac honey, shhhhh,’ she walked him over to sit on the bench a few feet away from their snowman, ‘do you want to put the nose on the snowman?’

She pulled the carrot she had brought out of her pocket and offered it to him, but he shook his head at her.

‘Daddy should do it.’

She sighed. ‘Daddy can’t, sweetie. We’ve been through this, haven’t we?’

He frowned and burrowed his head further into her coat. ‘Want Daddy.’

‘I know,’ she sighed, ‘I know. Me too.’

They sat there for a moment watching the snow fall down and observing passers by on their snow day walks, Amy trying to calm Mac down by softly singing Christmas songs until he was snoozing on her shoulder. She smiled and kissed the crown of his head, burying her nose in his soft curls that very much resembled Jake’s.

All was pretty much silent until she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out to see who was calling her, and she wasn’t surprised when she saw her husband’s contact displayed on the screen. She answered immediately, wondering if just the sound of his voice would make Mac feel better (it certainly worked for her, at least).

‘Hey babe!’

‘Hey Ames.’ he replied, and she could tell even over the phone that he was grinning.

‘What’s up?’ she asked. She was glad that he was calling her but she wondered why especially as he still had three hours left of his shift and it definitely wasn’t his break.

‘I was just wondering how you are, that’s all,’ he paused for a second, ‘and where you are.’

‘Oh, we’re okay. We’re just hanging in the park, why?’

‘Which park?’

‘The one right next to out apartment block.’

‘Ahh awesome,’ he chuckled, and Amy knew he was up to something, ‘I’ll be there in ten.’

‘What? How?’

‘Holt let me leave early. In his words, _‘you can go now, Peralta. Go spend time with your family’_. It was really weird.’

‘That is weird,’ she laughed, ‘well at least you can put the nose on the snowman now.’

‘Hm yes, the job I’m best at,’ Jake chuckled, ‘well I’ll see you in a few then, Ames. I love you.’

‘Love you too, babe.’

Mac awoke a few minutes later, and he yawned widely, clearly still tired. Amy smiled and gently brushed away the hair that was falling in front of his eyes.

‘Hey, sleepy head,’ she whispered, ‘guess who’s coming to see you?’

His eyes lit up. ‘Daddy?!’

She nodded and lifted him up in to her arms as she got up from the bench. ‘And there he is, look!’

And Jake was indeed walking into the park at that moment. His big parka hood was pulled up but she still knew it was him.

She put her son back down on the floor as he wriggled to get free of her grip, and he barrelled towards his Dad at full speed yelling his name loud enough for the whole park to hear.

‘DADDY!’ he squealed.

‘Hey, bud!’ said Jake happily as he lifted Mac off the ground and smothered him in kisses, making him laugh harder than ever before.

‘Oh thank god you’re here, he’s been asking for you all day.’ Amy rolled her eyes as she reached her husband at a more leisurely pace and wrapped her arms around his waist.

‘So you didn’t miss me as well then?’

‘Hmm, maybe I did a little.’ She joked as she kissed him on the cheek.

‘Well, I missed you both too. So much.’

‘Missed you more,’ murmured Amy, ‘and now you have to do the most important job of all!’

She pulled the now rather bruised carrot out of her pocket again and handed it to him.

He grinned and took it, putting Mac down on the ground and taking his hand. ‘Come on then Macaroon, let’s go give Mr Snowman a nose.’

Amy managed to snap quite a few adorable candids of the two loves of her life and the snowman, and she was quick to make one of them her lockscreen. Now every time she opened her phone, she was greeted with the beautiful sight of her husband and son covered in snow on the snowiest day of the year, and what could be better than that really?


	5. hot chocolate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> turns out chocolate does fix everything. but so, apparently, does jake peralta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really don't like this chapter it's a bit rubbish but i hope you enjoy it anyway. please leave me some christmassy things to write about in the comments because i'm a bit stuck for ideas<3

It was early on a Tuesday morning, three days before Christmas, and Amy Santiago was already two hours into an enormous pile of paperwork. She was surprised that she had even gathered the energy to write as much as she had since she hadn’t really gotten any sleep last night. It was only 7:30 now and she had woken up three hours ago after three hours of proper sleep, and she was surprised she hadn’t collapsed completely yet.

She put her head into her hands and sighed. Whoever invented 5:30 to 3:30 shifts deserved to rot in hell.

‘Are you okay, sergeant?’ she heard one of her patrolling officers say to her as she lifted her head from her hands.

‘Oh I’m okay, just tired.’ She replied. _And I miss my husband._

It was true. She did miss him rather a lot. She didn’t get to say goodbye to him this morning as she didn’t want to wake him up at what he called an ‘inhumane time of the day’. And if she was honest, she didn’t blame him. His shift only started at 8:30 today and waking up three hours before he had to even for his wife did seem a little bit insane. He made up for it by sticking a sticky note on her uniform that she had folded up neatly on the chair at the end of her bed. It said for her to have a good day at work and that he loved her very much and she’d be lying if she said it didn’t make her tear up a little bit.

‘Okay well if you need anything just ask one of us, alright?’

‘Thanks Julie.’

Her co-workers on the second floor were really nice, but they weren’t a patch on her old ones. She’d been working down here for almost a year now and she still very much missed being able to just look across her desk and see Jake’s face and she missed knowing that Rosa was right there if she needed a shoulder to cry on and she even missed Charles’ revolting lunches. Obviously they were all still her best friends and she could easily go upstairs and see them but she missed working with them. At least they all still gathered at shaws every Friday night, so she had that to look forward to.

Her phone screen suddenly lighting up distracted her from her meandering thoughts. She was glad to see that it was Jake who was texting her. It was 8 o clock now and he was obviously just leaving for work.

**Hey babe. You okay? Do you need anything? I’m just leaving the house now.**

_I’m good, don’t worry about me._

**You sure?**

If she was being completely honest, she wasn’t fine at all, she was tired and stressed and she was sure she was beginning to get a cold or something, but she couldn’t tell him that. She couldn’t worry him. She hated it when she worried him.

_I promise._

**Okay then. Well I love you, and I’ll see you later okay?**

_See you soon. I love you too._

The day dragged on and on, and Amy wanted to scream out at the top of her lungs when she looked up at the clock and saw that it was only 1:30. Normally she loved work and todays shift wasn’t even that long but she was in an awful mood and she just wanted to sleep.

She was so engrossed in trying to finish her last folder of important paperwork as quickly as possible that she didn’t notice who came across the bullpen and sat down silently next to her desk.

She jumped when she finally looked up and saw her husband grinning at her whilst he placed a takeaway cup down on her desk.

‘Jake?’

‘Hey,’ he said, smiling at her, ‘I have arrived.’

Before she knew what she was doing she was reaching across the desk to hug him tightly, all of her rules about workplace pda thrown out of the window. She was too tired and disorientated to even care all that much.

He returned it gladly, squeezing her tightly. ‘I could tell you weren’t doing okay. You tell me you’re fine, but I’m not stupid you know Ames.’

‘I know,’ she groaned, leaning back in her chair, ‘I’m _so_ tired.’

‘I know,’ said Jake, a sympathetic look on his face, ‘only a couple of hours left of this shift though, right?’

‘Yep,’ she replied, ‘thankfully.’

‘You got this.’

‘Thanks, babe.’

‘Anytime,’ said Jake, ‘I brought you hot chocolate by the way.’

‘You did?!’

‘Of course,’ he chuckled, ‘that’s what’s in the cup silly.’

She took the lid off and saw that he had put both cream _and_ marsh mellows on top, and she had never been more grateful for a hot drink in her life.

‘Thankyou.’ She whispered across the desk at her angel of a husband.

‘Anytime,’ he smiled, ‘I know it’s your favourite.’

‘It is indeed.’

He laughed softly as he got up from his chair to leave for the top floor. ‘Well I’ve gotta go, but I’ll see you later okay?’

She nodded and waved as he walked towards the lift. ‘I love you!’

‘Do you love me, or the hot chocolate?’ he chuckled as he waved back.

‘You, definitely you.’

He laughed again, and to be honest his laugh was enough to get her through this awful shift. ‘I love you too, babe.’

She somehow managed to make the glorious hot chocolate he had brought her last almost two hours, and she savoured every last bit. Turns out all she needed on a shitty day was the most festive drink ever invented, and a hug from the love of her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> amy is definitely a hot chocolate kinda girl. i don't know why she just gives off those vibes for some reason lmao


	6. presents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jake struggles to find a present for his wife, but little does he know she has the best one of all waiting for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi again guys! sorry i haven't updated in a couple of days, for some reason this one took me ages to write.   
> anyways, enjoy!

For Jake Peralta, buying Christmas presents for people was quite easy. He knew all of the people he was buying presents for quite well and if he didn’t or hadn’t asked them what they wanted then he would just give them chocolate. It was quite simple, really.

Well, it was quite simple when he was buying presents for his _friends,_ but buying for the absolute love of his life was a very different story.

They’d been married for about four and a half years now, and every year for the time they’d been together Amy would tell Jake not to get her anything, but every year he insisted. So every previous year he had spent most of December wondering what on earth to buy for her. Because it had to be perfect. It couldn’t be some mediocre present he found in the sale section of target (sorry, Terry) it had to be something romantic and meaningful.

Luckily he’d been able to find good gifts in the past. One year he bought her an anniversary edition of a classic book she likes, another year a ravenclaw scarf, the next a necklace with the letter A attached to it, etc.

But this year he was completely stumped. It was December 23rd and no ideas for presents for his wife had popped up at all. Surely this meant he was a completely awful husband, if he couldn’t even find a present for his own _wife_.

_Godammit._

So for some reason, he called Charles. He’d have great suggestions, right?

Well… not exactly.

‘Hey bud, um I was just wondering… do you have any suggestions on what I should get for Amy for Christmas?’

‘Oh you should definitely get her shampoo, Jakey, specifically lavender scented shampoo, for when you partake in the most romantic activity you can do with your lover…’

He sighed. He should’ve known that his best friend would come up with something weird. It was his fault for forgetting how involved poor Charles was in his relationship, really.

‘Alright bud, I’m hanging up.’

‘But Jake-’

He ended the call, chuckling to himself. Well he definitely wasn’t going to wash Amy’s hair for her Christmas present, he knew that for sure. Maybe Rosa would know what to do?

‘Hey, Rosa.’

‘Hey Jake.’

‘What do I get Amy for Christmas?’

‘Do you really think that I’m skilled at all in the art of giving people presents?’ she scoffed, and Jake could practically hear through the phone the expression her face was making, ‘just get her a book or something I don’t know. She obviously still reads right?’

‘Well yeah of course,’ he said, ‘but it has to be special. A book isn’t special, she has loads of those.’

‘Well then I have no idea Jake. Ask Gina or something.’

‘Alright.’

He definitely wasn’t going to call Gina. She’d go off on a rant about how annoying most of the moms are at her daughters school, and although he totally adores both Iggy and Gina he did not have time to spend an hour on a phone call.

It was now Christmas eve and he still hadn’t found anything. Absolutely nothing. And if he was honest, he was a bit ashamed. He’d asked all of his friends and family for advice and he’d been to all of her favourite shops but there was nothing good enough for her. He was left wondering how he had ever bought good gifts for her in the past. Maybe he had just _already_ purchased all the gifts that were special enough to give to her and now he was left with nothing? Perhaps that was the case.

He looked over to his son playing in the corner of the room, completely lost in his own world with his toy turtles (Jake’s obsession with them had perhaps rubbed off on Mac just a _little bit_ ) and smiled. Luckily he never had to worry about presents for his son, because Amy had it all sorted out before December had even began. He’d look at what she’d bought and nod enthusiastically, because of course they were all perfect. His wife was the most amazing giver of presents. She knew exactly what to get for everyone and even if at one point she didn’t, it would come to her eventually.

He sighed. He had just under 24 hours to find the perfect gift and most of the shops were closing in a few hours.

‘Hey Mac, bud?’ he called to his son across the room.

‘Yes, Daddy?’

‘Do you want to come shopping with me to look for a present for your Mom?’

Mac nodded and ran over to Jake before plonking himself in his lap. Jake pulled him into a hug and laughed, so very grateful for the joy his son never failed to bring him.

‘Come on then.’

After a few stressful hours of wondering aimlessly around shops, Jake and Mac finally made it home with two presents for Amy. One was a hardback version of the book she had been on about reading for a while lately and the other a fancy letter writing set because she often sent letters to her family.

They weren’t the best presents in the world, but at least you could never go wrong with a book. Jake was sure she’d like them even if she had got him something way more extraordinary.

Speaking of his wife, at around six o clock he heard the keys jangling in the lock and she entered, looking completely exhausted.

‘MOMMY!’ squealed Mac as he raced towards her, almost bowling her over as she knelt down on the floor to pull him into her arms.

‘Hey, baby.’ She whispered, nuzzling her nose in his hair.

‘Hey Ames,’ said Jake, walking over to her, ‘how was work?’

She sighed as she put Mac down on the floor so he could go and play with his turtles again, before reaching for her husband.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her temple, gently rubbing a hand up and down her back.

‘It was so exhausting,’ she mumbled, tucking her head into the crook of his neck, ‘I’m so tired it’s insane.’

‘I bet you are babe,’ he whispered, still not letting go of her, ‘well you don’t have to worry about tea or bathing Mac or anything because I’ve done all that already.’

She smiled and kissed his cheek softly. ‘Thankyou.’

He grinned.

‘I’ve just got to go to the bathroom a second, I won’t be long.’

‘Okay babe.’ Said Jake as he watched her go. He was a bit worried about her. She hadn’t been herself for days and she was tired all the time. Every time he looked at her he could see in her eyes that she was getting more and more fed up. She was definitely coming down with something, but he wasn’t sure what. She had been throwing up a lot recently. He hoped she wasn’t sick, she didn’t deserve that at all.

She came out about half an hour later after he had put Mac to bed, wearing grey sweatpants and one of his old t shirts. How a person could look so drop dead gorgeous in pyjamas he would never know, but his wife pulled it off everytime. _He_ could never look stunning in sweatpants, but she most certainly could.

‘You okay, babe?’ he asked as she came up to where he was cooking pasta on the hob.

‘Yeah, um… I’m good.’

She had hesitated a lot when she said that, and it was worrying him.

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah,’ she continued slowly, ‘Actually…I have something for you. An early Christmas present, if you will.’

‘Really?’

He was _very_ confused now.

She handed him a box that was long and thin, and he wondered what it could be. A watch? No. A- wait.

There was no way.

She was openly grinning now, looking down at her feet as realisation dawned on his face. He ripped off the wrapping paper and opened the box. Inside it was a _positive pregnancy test._

He couldn’t believe it. There was no way.

‘Ames?’ he whispered, his hands shaking as he tried not to drop the test on the floor.

She smiled and nodded at him, happy tears now openly falling down her face. ‘We’re having another baby, Jake.’

Not knowing what else to do, he pulled her into his arms. She was giggling softly at his very wholesome reaction to the news. He couldn’t stop smiling as they finally pulled away, and he planted a gentle kiss onto her lips.

Turns out it didn’t matter how bad his gifts to her were, because she had given him the greatest gift of all. They were having _another child._ Mac was going to have a _sibling._

And he couldn’t wait.


End file.
